


De-Nied!

by MsGordo_Writings



Series: Love at First Byte [1]
Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Kidnapping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-29
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:26:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22456441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsGordo_Writings/pseuds/MsGordo_Writings
Summary: Dear GOD, men can be stupid at times�
Relationships: Connor (AtS)/Dawn Summers, Draco Malfoy/Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood/Blaise Zabini
Series: Love at First Byte [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1615888
Kudos: 1





	De-Nied!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm out of practice and decidedly rusty, don't be too harsh.  
> Dedications: Jo, Laura and Echo; because not only have they continued  
> to mod the Freaks list for me without a word of complaint, they are  
> also proving to be absolutely selfless and supremely patient as they  
> await me getting my act together and pulling my head out of my butt.  
> Erin and Raye, for a fantastic time in London in November and for  
> basically *telling* me to get my head out of my butt and start  
> writing again. ::grins:: And for resisting the temptation of slapping  
> me when I kept whining anyway; good job, ladies! For everyone else  
> who keeps mailing so nicely and enthusiastically and basically  
> reiterating the whole get-your-head-out-of-your-butt-thing�Happy New  
> Year, guys!

Connor Angel, Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy stood looking up at the  
window currently concealing the objects of their separate desires and  
then looked with trepidation at the innocuous door that guarded the  
entrance to the house where their beloveds resided. Connor placed his  
hands on his hips and scowled in annoyance. "This is ridiculous. We  
should just go in there and make them talk to us."

Blaise slanted a look at his friend from the corner of his eye and  
quirked an amused eyebrow. "Would this be before or after the  
stupidly vicious vampire rips our throats out or that bloody twat  
with the scar hexes us all into next week?"

Draco snorted. "The day I bloody well turn tail and run because old  
scar face might pull his over inflated head out of his arse long  
enough to get it together for a proper curse is the day you'll see me  
hand over all my galleons to St Mungos and willingly wear hand-me-  
down robes from Weasel-boy." He tilted his head as he considered the  
house. "Mind you, I'm not *that* enthusiastic about meeting that  
loopy blonde bird again. What was her name; Busty? Bit too happy  
about cutting bits off people to my way of thinking."

Connor huffed out an impatient breath. "I can take her." He scowled  
as he looked up at the window again. "*She* probably won't be too  
happy if I beat up her sister though. And it's Buffy, not Busty."

"Agreed." Blaise folded his arms over his chest and rocked  
thoughtfully on his hells. "She's definitely a bit lacking in that  
region, and the arse is certainly nothing to write home about  
either." He leered and nudged Connor in the ribs. "You can certainly  
see who got smacked with the gorgeous stick in that family."

Connor kicked the ground with an annoyed boot and glared up at the  
window once more as he muttered darkly, "That's what I should have  
done, hit her with a freakin' big stick and just locked her up in our  
room till she came to her senses. It wasn't like this in Quor'toth,  
y'know. Women knew their places there, there was none of this�"

Draco rolled his eyes and thumped his friend on the shoulder. "Yes,  
and did you actually get *laid* at any point in this wonderland of  
abused females and testosterone leakage?"

Connor scowled harder. "No, but that isn't the point! I was still a  
kid when I left there and�"

Blaise took up Draco's point effortlessly. "And the *women* were  
actually *demons* and all scaly and quite possibly green. The totty  
in this dimension may lead us a merry chase when we piss `em off and  
make us suffer for our sins, but at least they all only have two eyes  
and take the old skin care seriously."

Connor huffed and switched his glare from the window to the  
ground. "S'not the point. She's my mate, she should damn well learn  
her place."

Draco and Blaise looked alarmed and sidled abruptly away from  
Connor. "Bloody hell, Angel, have a care and lower your voice, will  
you?" Blaise shot a distinctly hunted look up at the house and edged  
a little further away from Connor just to be on the safe side. "You  
might have taken leave of your senses when it comes to your own  
woman, but I'd quite like to be able to take mine back to our bed  
*sometime* before the next apocalypse."

Draco patted his friend on the shoulder bracingly. "S'okay, we've got  
plenty of time, it's not due till next Wednesday, that gives us  
nearly five days."

Connor huffed impatiently to himself. "Still think we should just go  
in there and drag them out by their hair." He wheeled suddenly on his  
heels and glared at the three vampires that were sneaking up behind  
them. "And what the fucking hell do you want?"

The vampire in the lead � a rather obviously overdeveloped young man  
that looked as though he had been turned at the height of his high  
school football glory days � looked startled and stopped dead in the  
middle of reaching out to grip Connor's neck. "What?" He reached up  
to make sure he hadn't come out without his game face, but on feeling  
the ridges above his eyes and his beloved fangs didn't look  
especially reassured to find out he was wearing his demon credentials  
for all to see. "Er�"

Draco raised a laconic eyebrow and tapped an impatient foot as he  
eyed the other two vampires � one looking suspiciously like she had  
risen only that night thanks to the clumps of dirt and grass sticking  
to her cheerleading uniform. "Well? Come on, we haven't got all day."  
He glanced up at the sky and amended grouchily, "Night. We haven't  
got all *night*."

The football player shifted nervously from foot to foot, uneasily  
aware that there were certain codes of conduct your prey were meant  
to follow when you snuck up on them in the dead of night in Sunnydale  
and having said prey glare and demand to know what the hell you  
thought you were playing at was most certainly *not* how this  
particular game was meant to be played. He looked worriedly at the  
house behind the three boys, sniffed the air and then stared in  
sudden dark suspicion at Connor. "You're not a vampire with a soul  
are you?"

Against all probability the dark scowl on Connor's face got even  
darker. "No I'm not!" He squinted his eyes menacingly at his soon-to-  
be-dead-demon. "Do I smell like a vampire to you?"

The vampire sniffed again and failed to look reassured. "Are you some  
kind of sorcerer then?"

Connor managed to look even more insulted. "No!"

The vampire squinted his own eyes thoughtfully and wracked his brains  
for any other possible otherworldly creature that wouldn't be  
impressed by a vampire showing up behind them with intention to bite  
through their jugular and suck out all their blood. "Um, werewolf?"

Blaise smirked at the very annoyed growl that erupted from Connor's  
chest and couldn't resist winking at the very pretty dead girl that  
would shortly be feeling the sharp end of his wand if he had anything  
to say about it. "Believe it or not, he's just human. Boringly so in  
fact."

Connor stopped looking annoyed and instead looked hurt. "I'm not! I'm  
very interesting, Dawn said so."

Draco snorted in disbelief. "Was this before or after she absconded  
from England in the middle of the night just to get away from your  
extremely riveting person?" He remained unmoved by another warning  
growl from Connor and continued mercilessly, "Or perhaps after she  
decided he-of-the-scar was more fascinating company and took him  
along to meet the family?"

Even Blaise looked shocked. "I say, Malfoy, there's no need for that  
kind of language, there *is* a lady present after all." He shook his  
head reprovingly at his friend. "I don't think we've *quite* reached  
the stage where we actually need to start pretending that Potter is a  
subject fit for discussion in mixed company."

Connor started snarling again and started to reconsider tearing off  
the three disconcerted vampires heads in favour of ripping off  
Draco's. "She said they were just friends."

Draco refused to look even slightly worried. "Yes, well she *also*  
said that she loved you and would stand by your side for the rest of  
her life, but as you can see�" He looked pointedly at either side of  
Connor and then � for good measure � turned in a fast circle to  
indicate the absence of any Angel mates in the near vicinity, "That  
plan doesn't seem to be working out as hoped."

Blaise tilted his head to one side and nodded in reluctant  
acknowledgment of this indisputable fact. "Okay. Good point." He  
heaved a sigh and cast another look back at the house which held his  
own particular love interest. "Bloody women."

Connor was now making a sound generally more associated with a  
particularly powerful engine. "That's it, I'm going in there and I'm  
going to drag her out and then I'm going to�I'm going to�"

Draco waggled his eyebrows helpfully. "Go down on your hopefully  
unshattered kneecaps and beg and grovel until she takes pity on the  
brittle shell of the man you used to be and re-opens her shapely,  
womanly arms to take you back to her surprisingly cushiony bosom?"

Connor glowered, hissed out a seriously irritated breath and then  
barked out a defeated laugh. "Yeah, that's the plan. There may be  
some wailing involved as well."

Draco and Blaise exchanged concerned looks. "There'd better bloody  
not be, that was *our* plan." Blaise switched his attention back to  
the three vampires who were now all sidling backwards as fast as  
their demonic feet could carry them. "Sorry, who said you could  
leave?"

The three demons froze and the football player licked his upper lip  
nervously and then yelped when he cut his tongue on his own  
fangs. "Ow!" He blinked away the tears of pain and continued with his  
slightly frantic retreat. "This really isn't the time for this and  
you're all obviously very busy, so we'll just come another night�"

Draco looked down his nose and raised an eyebrow. "I don't think you  
will. You still haven't explained why you're here *tonight*."

If possible the demons looked even more nervous.

Connor eyed them suspiciously. "You weren't just attacking at random,  
were you?" He shot the confused looking blonde cheerleader a  
withering look. "I mean, you were here for something else than just  
trying to bite us, weren't you?"

The third vampire � a youngish accountant looking type � adjusted his  
unnecessary spectacles and shuffled his skittish feet. "Well�"

Blaise rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest before  
saying in his best Senior Prefect voice, "Come on, out with it, what  
were you up to?"

Accountant-boy looked at his companions, looked at the three human  
boys and then at the house over their shoulders. "The Slayer lives  
there."

Draco nodded gloomily in agreement. "Unfortunately."

Connor's hand twitched in anticipation of someone getting a good  
staking before the explanation was over. "What of it?"

Cheerleader spoke up. "We were meant to deliver a message to her."  
She flicked her blonde mane back over her shoulders and brushed a  
clump of mud from her skirt. "But then you guys got all weird and  
started being mean to each other and not scared of us like you're  
supposed too, `cos we're like *vampires* here and�urk!"

Connor � and his hand � felt a lot less twitchy when she exploded in  
a shower of ash, courtesy of the stake he had concealed up his  
sleeve. "Moron."

Football-guy yelped again, this time with shock. "Oh my God, you  
killed Symphony!"

Blaise rolled his eyes. "Good grief: Symphony? Only in America."

Connor divided his glare between his friend and the two remaining  
demons. "Yeah, because `Blaise' is *such* a dignified name. Your mom  
and dad might just as well have called you `Steele' or `Flame'." He  
tilted his head at his remaining friend as Draco began to snigger at  
Blaise's affronted look. "And I don't know what you're laughing at  
Dragon-boy."

Draco hurriedly sobered. "Oi! I'll have you know that Draco has been  
an honoured name in the Malfoy family for generations."

Connor looked unimpressed. "Yeah, *that's* something to be proud of.  
You come from a family of megalomaniac psychos that keep calling  
their kids after flying lizards." He turned his back on Draco's livid  
spluttering and re-focused on the unsettled vampires still staring  
down in disbelief at the sad little pile of ashes that had been the  
unfortunate Symphony. "Anyway, what's the message for the Slayer?  
There's some new big bad in town that's calling her out, right? Could  
be a real nasty player that could keep her and her pals out of the  
house for, oh, say the next couple of hours?"

Accountant-boy looked confused. "Uh, no?" He looked at Connor's  
impatient face warily and then said hesitantly, "Actually we were  
meant to tell her that we've got her sister and some of her friends  
and that if she didn't hand over the Jewel of Anakesh to us  
immediately then the girls would be drained and turned before dawn."  
He took a step back as Connor's mildly hopeful and curious expression  
melted into one of deep, murderous rage. "Um�"

Draco forgot all about the insult to his family and his name and he  
whipped out his wand. "One of these friends wouldn't happen to be a  
small, ginger English girl who swears like a sailor and has a kick  
like a donkey, would she?"

Football-guy eyed the slender wooden stick in the blond boy's hand  
with gloomy trepidation. "Maybe." He took another step back and  
wondered how far he'd get if he tried to make a run for it as he  
remembered the distressing ease with which Symphony had been staked  
by the moody definitely-human-boy. "Why?"

Blaise pulled out his own wand and idly tried to decide which demon  
to set on fire first. "There's a slender, blonde girl with ravishing  
blue eyes and a mouth the colour of fresh cherries as well, isn't  
there?"

Football-guy looked a bit confused and then said doubtfully, "Uh,  
well she's blonde and her eyes are a bit more goggly than ravishing,  
but she didn't stop asking us questions on how it felt to be a demon  
and what it was like to claw our way out of our graves so I can't  
really swear to what colour her lips are." He looked worriedly at  
Blaise's wooden face and swallowed heavily. "Is that right?"

Blaise looked gratified to find the setting-on-fire question had been  
settled so easily. "Her eyes are *not* goggly!" One sharp slash of  
his wand and a muttered curse later and Accountant-boy was horrified  
to find himself standing over another pile of ashes, although these  
ones were considerably warmer than the late unlamented Symphony's.  
Blaise pointed his wand at the petrified demon. "Do you have anything  
to add?"

"NO!" The poor vampire was visibly shaking in his shoes as he stared  
from one uncompromising face to the other. "I thought she was  
delightful! A truly unique beauty!" He darted a look back at the  
Slayer's house and � possibly for the first time in vampire history �  
started to pray for the sworn enemy of his kind to come save one of  
the demons she was meant to destroy. "Can I go tell the Slayer now?"

Connor � although naturally concerned to find out his errant love was  
in the hands of evil *again*-- gave a slow delighted smile. "I don't  
think so." He moved forward and slung an arm around the vampire's  
neck, charitably ignoring the panicked whimper from the  
creature. "Let's talk."

*~*~*

Connor, Draco and Blaise were slightly disconcerted to find that  
after they'd gone to all the trouble of racing across town after  
obtaining their missing lovers' locations from their gibbering  
captive, kicking in three extremely heavy doors *and* fighting hordes  
of screaming vampires, the first reaction they received to their  
dramatic entrance to the chamber where torture and death were shortly  
about to happen to their beloveds was to be shouted at and told most  
emphatically to�"BUGGER OFF!"

Draco brought himself up short and stared in hurt amazement at Ginny,  
hanging most fetchingly in some chains dangling from the ceiling and  
wearing not very much of what had previously been quite a sedate  
dress. "I beg your pardon?"

Ginny ignored the burning in her arms from hanging from the same  
position for too long and scowled at the man she had only two days  
previously been laughingly calling the light of her life. "I said,  
BUGGER OFF!"

Draco stopped looking hurt and started looking confused. "But I'm  
here to rescue you."

Dawn Summers butted in helpfully with a rather spiteful, "Yeah? Well  
Luke Skywalker, you ain't, pal. Get lost!"

Draco blinked at her and looked even more confused.

Ginny sneered and ignored the overwhelming evidence of her current  
situation to say most convincingly, "Do I *look* like I need your  
help? GIT!"

Dawn narrowed her eyes at Connor as he stepped towards her through  
the ashes of the last vampire still trying to fight the valiant  
rescuers off and spat warningly, "You lay one hand on me, Angel, and  
I swear the minute I get loose I'm cuttin' it off!"

Connor stopped and looked at least as perturbed as Draco. "What?" He  
looked around the dark, dank basement they were currently occupying  
and frowned in disapproval. "You don't want to stay here, do you?"

Dawn twisted in her chains as he reached out towards her and kicked  
out viciously. "If it means never laying eyes on your lying, ugly,  
soon-to-be-pox ridden face again then YES!"

Blaise smiled soothingly at his own recovered love and just stopped  
short of batting his eyelashes at her in a bid to escape the less  
than enthusiastic welcome that his friends had received. "Darling�"

Luna Lovegood sniffed and turned her back as best she could  
considering she was chained to a wall and slightly off-balance  
because she'd lost one of her heeled boots. "Go away, I don't want to  
see you."

Blaise chuckled and cupped her mutinous face with a gentle hand as he  
bent his head to taste her aforementioned cherry coloured  
mouth. "Beloved, you don't want to stay down in this nasty old�FUCK  
ME!" He reared back in astonishment as Luna demonstrated that behind  
the cherry coloured velvet lips lay a set of teeth any self-  
respecting piranha would be happy to posses. "You bit me, you little  
bitch!"

Luna glared defiantly up at her ex-lover. "And I'll do it again. You  
don't take from me what I'm not willing to give, Zabini, remember  
that."

Connor stared in sudden alarm at Dawn. "Hang on, what do you  
mean `soon-to-be-pox-ridden-face'?" His hands flew up to touch his �  
for the moment � unblemished skin. "What did you do?"

Dawn looked desperately pleased with herself and exchanged wicked  
looks with her co-damsels in distress. "I think boils on the penis  
are *so* last year, don't you? Jerk!"

Three pairs of male hands clamped protectively � and slightly  
manically � on three male groins. "WHAT?!"

Dawn chuckled meanly. "Don't worry, I *said* that the penis thing is  
so last year and I meant it." She waited to see the three men relax  
and then finished with great relish, "You just have to worry about  
the boils showing up everywhere *else*!"

Draco and Blaise immediately released their groins to clutch  
worriedly at their faces instead and Connor narrowed his eyes at Dawn  
furiously. "You did a spell!"

Dawn stuck out her chin and spat, "Darn right I did a spell, you  
scumbag. After what you did to us�"

Connor threw up his hands in exasperation. "I was trying to protect  
you, you stupid girl!" He included Ginny and Luna in his irate glare  
as he continued, "Although why we bothered when absolutely the first  
thing you do when we turn our backs for five minutes is run off to  
America with fucking Hero Potter and get your ass snatched by the  
forces of darkness *again*�"

Ginny gasped and took the time to bite Draco's hand that was trying  
to stroke her face before answering, "Don't you talk about Harry like  
that; he's sweet and kind and he helped us!"

Draco snatched his hand back and ground his teeth in  
frustration. "Yes, and don't think there won't be a reckoning for  
that, Gin. I thought something dreadful had happened to you when I  
came back to our room and found you were gone." He tried for a  
roguish grin and missed by a mile under Ginny's contemptuous look. "I  
frowned so hard I very nearly gave myself wrinkles."

Blaise didn't make the mistake of getting anywhere near Luna's mouth  
again, but he did shift around until he was bent awkwardly in front  
of her and peering up into her dismissive blue eyes. "Sweeting,  
please, we were only doing what we thought was best for all of you.  
You must know how we feel about you by now."

Luna sniffed and looked down into his imploring face with every ounce  
of feminine dignity at her disposal � the look was surprisingly  
effective considering all she was wearing was muggle jeans, a  
slightly bedraggled sweater and the sleeve of what looked like to be  
a fairly expensive leather jacket. "No, Zabini, amazingly we don't."  
She bit her lip and looked away from the look of stunned hurt on his  
face at not only her dismissal of his feelings, but also her  
continued use of his last name. "It must have something to do with  
the fact that you keep lying consistently about your so called  
feelings whenever you're questioned by your friends and the fact that  
you were photographed with other women in sordid little clubs not  
once but FIVE times in the last week alone!"

"Oh." Blaise straightened and -- possibly for the first time in his  
life -- flushed with shame. "That."

Ginny glowered at Draco as he looked away from her to the floor and  
said waspishly, "Yes, that. Or did you think that we would actually  
be *happy* that the men we've been involved with for the past *year*  
were quite happily running around town and shagging the life out of  
any witch that moved *and* making sure that the bloody wizarding  
press was there to record every single squalid detail?"

Draco coughed uncomfortably and shuffled his feet. "Well, no, not  
happy as such�"

Connor shook his head impatiently and reached for Dawn's chains to  
yank them out of the wall. "We are not talking about this now. We're  
getting you out of here and taking you back to England and then we're  
going to�OOF!"

Blaise and Draco winced as Connor folded inelegantly in half  
clutching his most private area and then toppled over to curl on the  
floor with a pained wheeze. Then they hurriedly stepped out of range  
of Ginny and Luna who were both looking between Dawn's still raised  
foot, Connor gasping on the floor and the unprotected groins of the  
Slytherins. Dawn waggled her foot threateningly at Blaise and Draco  
and said firmly, "The next two-timing slimeball to come near me gets  
this up their *ass*." She turned her head in dismissal away from the  
said two-timing slimeballs and stated calmly, "Now get lost and leave  
us alone. I'm sure Buffy and the others will be here soon and they  
can get the chains off."

Ginny bared her teeth at Draco. "Yeah, what she said."

Blaise and Draco eyed the three obviously insane women and then eyed  
each other. "So, just to get this straight," Blaise quelled the first  
pang of real annoyance at the somewhat inflexible attitudes the  
little bit�minxes�had displayed since being almost rescued. "You're  
so pissed off with us, so utterly incensed with our ungentlemanly  
behaviour, that you'd rather stay here in this dank little room and  
possibly get eaten by demons on the off chance that the Slayer will  
show up and rescue you, rather than come with us and get warm and  
have something nice to eat whilst we have a little chat and explain a  
few things?"

The three girls looked at each other and then Luna nodded firmly as  
she spoke for herself and her friends. "Yes, that sums up the  
situation quite nicely I would say." She looked pointedly at the  
ruined door hanging from its one surviving hinge after Connor's size  
eleven sneaker had kicked it down. "Try not to let the door ram sharp  
and incredibly painful splinters in your decidedly podgy bum on the  
way out."

Dawn rolled her eyes in exasperation and ignored Connor finally  
uncurling at her feet and tottering unsteadily upright. "How many  
more times, Luna? *Pithy*, the insults should always be *pithy*! That  
was far too complicated."

"Yeah. Like this." Ginny curled her lip disparagingly at Blaise and  
Draco and spat, "Fuck you *and* the broomstick you rode in on!"

Dawn nodded approvingly. "That's more like it."

Draco pulled himself up to his full height and glowered at the ginger  
witch that he was head over heels in love with � despite the rather  
condemning evidence that had appeared in the Daily Prophet to the  
contrary earlier that week. "Now see here, you filthy mouthed little  
tart, we came here to rescue you and that is *exactly* what we're  
going to do whether you want us to or not." He glared pointedly at  
Ginny. "Personally I have no problem adding a gag to the chains if it  
means getting you out of here any quicker."

Ginny gnashed her teeth at him. "Just try it and see what happens,  
you sod!"

"Right," With great dignity � and grimly holding onto his  
increasingly precarious grip on his temper � Draco turned to the now  
recovered Connor and said coldly, "You know that big stick you were  
talking about earlier?" Connor stopped scowling darkly at Dawn and  
perked up visibly as he nodded at his friend. Draco's mouth stretched  
in a terrible smile. "Go fetch it, I've had just about enough of this  
nonsense and one way or another they *are* coming with us and they're  
bloody well going to listen to what we have to say."

Ginny, Luna and Dawn all gasped in shocked outraged and stared wide  
eyed at their grim faced rescuers. Luna darted a glance up at Blaise  
and gulped as she realised that the tender, loving man she'd been  
quite happily shagging rotten for the last few months was now  
apparently quite happy to consider�"You wouldn't dare!"

Blaise squinted down his nose at her and quirked an eyebrow and said  
calmly, "Try me." He folded his arms over his chest and tilted his  
head enquiringly. "And while we're beating some manners into you I  
think it would also be an *excellent* opportunity to discuss you  
running off with Harry fucking Potter�who � I can't help but notice �  
is nowhere to be bloody seen whilst you and your fellow harridans are  
languishing in a fucking cellar waiting to be some scabby demon's  
supper!"

Connor looked around the room accusingly. "Yeah, where is the great  
Bore Wonder? Off brooding over his tragic and traumatic life again,  
is he?"

Three vicious pairs of female eyes focused on Connor and  
narrowed. "No he's not. *Harry* is out with a friend of mine tonight,  
*not* being a selfish, lying piece of demon crap�" Dawn sneered at  
Connor and tossed her head. "Unlike some bastards I could mention."

Blaise, Draco and Connor were momentarily derailed from their ire at  
the continued hostility in the room by the astonishing news that  
Harry Potter was actually out on a date. Blaise blinked. "Pardon?  
Potter's out with a *girl*?" He blinked again. "A real one?"

"Blimey." Draco looked desperately impressed. "Who knew he had it in  
him?"

Connor sniggered and nudged his two friends. "Wonder if she's gonna  
get it in *her*." He caught the outraged expressions on the girls'  
faces from the corner of his eye and held up his hands in  
apology. "Joking, just joking!"

Ginny stuck out her chin and shot a withering look at Draco as he  
tried to stop laughing. "Kit isn't that type of girl, and Harry most  
certainly wouldn't take advantage of someone like that. *He* happens  
to be kind and gentle and respectful of other people's feelings,  
unlike�"

Draco stopped laughing and rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, we know.  
Unlike *us*." He shook his weary head. "Look, don't we at least get  
points for chasing you three halfway across the bloody world so we  
could try to explain things and work them out?"

"Unless your explanation includes hard evidence that three people  
have taken on your appearance thanks to a large ingestion of  
Polyjuice potion and have been running amok around London in a bid to  
discredit your names, then no." Luna's voice was cool and controlled  
but she couldn't quite suppress the look of hope in her eyes as she  
looked from one guilty face to the other. She shook her head when  
none of the men could meet her gaze and slumped in her chains. "Then  
no, no points for you. Just go away and leave us alone."

Blaise scrubbed hard hands through his hair, selflessly disregarding  
the fact that he was now slightly rumpled instead of his usual  
immaculate self. "For Merlin's sake, we were doing it for you! Do you  
think we liked tarting ourselves about like that?" He stabbed one  
annoyed finger in Ginny's direction when she opened her mouth to  
reply. "Before you say anything, Weasel, just you bear in mind that  
we didn't lay a single, solitary *finger* on any of those women aside  
from what was captured by that little creep Creevey." He looked back  
at Luna slightly desperately. "And *anything* that was captured and  
published in that bloody rag of a newspaper was carefully  
choreographed and set up by *us*. We knew exactly what we were bloody  
doing at all times!"

Dawn snorted. "Oh, well, that's okay then. Seeing my boyfriend with  
his tongue down the throat of a girl the size of a house with all the  
natural charm of Voldemort in his *decapitated* state just seems so  
much more bearable now."

Draco and Blaise shuddered in remembered horror. "Ugh, Bulstrode."

Connor looked like he was fighting the urge to be sick, but manfully  
got control of himself and shook it off. "Right, like I was enjoying  
myself, I had no choice!" He stared pleadingly at Dawn. "Honey,  
someone was on to us, they'd found out about you and me and they were  
gonna tell *everyone* they could. I *had* to do something to protect  
you!"

It appeared to the three desperate men that even the rats held their  
breath after that dramatic proclamation.

Dawn shook her head as though she was trying to clear water from her  
ears and said, "I'm sorry, what?"

Blaise looked beseechingly at each female face and lowered his voice  
to a sincere growl. "It's true. I was contacted by an old family  
friend last week saying that they had in their possession irrefutable  
evidence that I was in a relationship with Luna and that Draco and  
Connor were bound to Ginny and Dawn and that unless we agreed to  
their demands then the knowledge would be made public and we would be  
ruined." He stretched out one cool hand towards Luna and stroked her  
rigid cheek. "Darling, I don't care about me, but the thought of what  
you'd have to bear if your friends � Merlin, your *father* -- found  
out about us." He shook his head wryly and smiled. "I couldn't do  
that do you. Obviously we went after the person responsible and got  
their evidence and destroyed any hope of you being used against us  
like that in the future, but there was a risk that the person  
blackmailing us might have talked and we needed to divert attention  
away from you and solely onto ourselves. Hence the rather degrading  
charade of the last few days and our withdrawal from you." He stepped  
closer when Luna remained frozen in place, staring at him with wide  
eyes. "I'm sorry, I knew you wouldn't let us go ahead with the plan  
if you knew, I swear I never meant to hurt you."

Draco jumped in when he realised that Ginny was also temporarily lost  
for words. "Ginny, please, it's all true. I couldn't take the chance  
of your family finding out about us, not now. We were just starting  
to find our balance and if the news of our relationship had come out  
now�" He swallowed heavily. "I just *couldn't* let you go yet, I'm  
not ready."

Ginny stared speechlessly at his stricken face and then darted a look  
at Dawn and Luna, both looking like they'd been unexpectedly slapped  
with a wet fish. She licked her lips and looked back up into Draco's  
earnest face. "Wait a minute, do you mean you're planning on letting  
me go at some point, then?"

"God, no!" Sensing an opening, Draco darted forwards and cupped her  
face in his hands as he stared down at her stunned face. "Gin,  
everything was just starting to fall into place and given more time  
then I could have changed how people saw me, maybe left some of the  
taint of my family name behind and perhaps people would have  
forgotten what my father did and what I used to be and then we could  
have�" He shook his head as words failed him and leaned forward to  
press his forehead against hers in supplication. "Ginny, I just need  
more time."

Dawn eyed Connor with a little less softening around the eyes than  
her fellow captives and with considerably more unspoken promise of a  
major hurt fest heading his way. "That your excuse too?"

Connor, never that comfortable with his feelings anyway, refused to  
spill sweet nothings in front of an audience even if it did help his  
cause and glared back at her. "It's not a freakin' excuse, okay? I  
know exactly what you'd have done and I'm not going to be the cause  
of you turning your back on your family just because they don't like  
you hooking up with a demon's spawn for your mate. You know how  
things are between your sister and my dad � that's not even counting  
fucking Spike ripping my head off for touching his little Nibblet �  
and I don't even want to *think* about what the goddamned wizards  
would be saying about the great and pure Key getting screwed through  
the bed by the nasty, mean Destroyer every night." He flung up his  
hands in exasperation as Dawn snorted in disbelief. "You'd turn your  
back on your family because they'd disapprove and then all the  
wizards would turn against you and then you'd blame me and we'd hate  
each other and then you'd leave and�"

Dawn cocked an impressed eyebrow. "Wow, got it all worked out there,  
dontcha?" She peered with interest at the pockets of his jeans. "Ya  
got some kind of hinky prophecy tucked in those pants, mister?  
Something like that just *has* to be written in stone somewhere."

Connor, beyond furious, punched the wall beside her head. "Tell me  
you wouldn't do that! Go on, deny it! Say you wouldn't choose me over  
them!"

"OF COURSE I'D CHOOSE YOU, YOU MORON!" The bellow from Dawn's throat  
had Connor rearing back in surprise and Draco and Blaise jumping with  
a couple of very unmanly yelps. "It's ALWAYS going to be you, there's  
not even a choice to make!"

Connor blinked and muttered rather lamely, "See? I told you."

Dawn hissed at him and strained at her restraints. "You just wait  
until I get free, buddy, I am *so* going to kick your ass!" She  
writhed against the chains and tried to kick out at him. "I can't  
believe you did that to me! YOU IDIOT!"

Draco yelped again when Ginny's foot connected with his ankle. "Ow!  
What was that for?"

"You stupid, idiotic�" Words failed her and she tried to kick him  
again, snarling when he dodged smartly out of reach. "You actually  
thought that I'd worry about losing my family more than losing you?"  
Ginny tried to kick him again. "I'm going to KILL you."

Blaise � always quick on the uptake � was already moving and thus  
managed to avoid his own bruising kick from Luna. "Now, Sweeting�"

"You lied to me." Luna blinked huge wounded eyes at Blaise and shook  
her head in disbelief. "You actually lied to me."

Blaise patted the air. "Luna, I know, but we did it with the very  
best of intentions and I was just trying to protect you, my love.  
You, Ginny and Dawn are some of the war's most well-known heroes;  
just imagine how it would look if it were found out that you were  
involved with three turncoats that most people believe only fought  
Voldemort at the end to save their own skins."

Draco rolled his eyes at his friend's apparent *extremely* selective  
memory. "We *did* do that."

Luna ignored the rest of the room and focused once more on Blaise. "I  
don't mean about that, I mean about reading `The Quibbler'. You lied  
about *that*."

Blaise flinched guiltily. "What? Nonsense, I haven't missed a day of  
your dear old father's publication since we first kissed, darling."

Luna stared at him coolly. "Really? Then perhaps you'd like to  
explain how you missed the centre page spread that daddy ran three  
*months* ago telling all our readers how happy we were and how much  
in love Ginny and Dawn were with their chosen partners?"

The silence was deafening.

Eventually Connor cleared his throat. "Sorry, could you repeat that?"

Luna turned a withering look on him. "I *said* that daddy already ran  
the story about all of us *months* ago and the sky has yet to fall  
in." She stared back at Blaise with her huge reproachful eyes. "In  
fact, I'd go as far as to say that, aside from a very small  
readership, no one even believes it."

Connor coughed. "Right. That's what I thought you said."

Blaise was desperately trying to catch up. "What? You told your  
*father* about us?"

Luna sniffed and said practically, "Well of course I did. I wasn't  
going to lie to him about something like that and, besides, I thought  
it might be quite nice to let him at least know the name of the man I  
plan to marry rather than just keep it as a surprise for our wedding  
day."

Blaise rocked back on his heels and repeated faintly, "Wedding day?"

This earned him a stern glare from his self-declared wife-to-be. "Of  
*course* wedding day. You don't honestly think I'd let any man do  
that thing to me that you do with your tongue and the ice cube and  
then *not* marry them, do you? What kind of a girl do you think I am?"

Ginny snorted. "Remember who he *has* been hanging out with lately,  
Luna, he's probably got you lumped in with the likes of Pansy and  
that trollop Lavender."

Luna's eyes widened even further and she pouted prettily. "Blaise,  
how *could* you?"

Connor stepped in to rescue Blaise who looked in imminent danger of  
collapsing of a heart attack at any minute. "Wait, wait; so  
*everyone* knows about us?" His expression darkened considerably. "Do  
you mean I kissed that heifer for nothing?"

Dawn sniggered at the look of total disgust on his face. "Yep." She  
shook her head in irritation at the thought of all the unnecessary  
heartache they had all been put through. "Which could have been  
avoided if you guys had just *talked* to us. We figured that someone  
was bound to notice sooner or later that we kept being seen in the  
vicinity of Draco's townhouse and put two and two together, so Ginny  
figured the best way to head trouble off at the pass was to make an  
announcement in The Quibbler, which no one ever takes seriously  
anyway," She paused and shrugged apologetically at Luna who was  
watching in fascination as Blaise's face went from white, to red, to  
purple and then back to white again and wasn't paying attention  
anyway. "And you guys were so *manic* about us keeping the whole  
sleeping together thing a big secret that we thought we just make it  
seem like a ridiculous rumour and then if anyone ever *did* put two  
and two together we'd just point them in the direction of The  
Quibbler and �voila!"

Draco rubbed a shaking hand over his pounding heart. "Hide in plain  
sight. Good grief, that's brilliant!"

Ginny looked suitably smug. "Yes, I know." She fixed him with a  
gimlet eye. "Of course if you'd have just *said* that the reason you  
were making us keep quiet about our relationships was because you  
were trying to protect our maidenly honour and not that you were  
ashamed of us or something then we'd have hit you with a really *big*  
curse and then a fairly large stick." Her face softened as she looked  
at Draco's stunned one and she continued in a low, intimate  
voice, "Then I would have shouted it from the rooftops that I'm in  
love with Draco Malfoy and I don't care what anyone thinks about it  
because, despite him being a big arse, he's makes me the happiest  
that anyone ever has and I want to stay with him for the rest of my  
life." She smiled fondly at her speechless boyfriend. "And if you  
ever pull another stunt like this, then I'll shrink your willy up so  
small it'll look like a third ball and take pictures to put in the  
Prophet. You twat."

Blaise wobbled and sat down heavily on the floor. "I'm getting  
married!" He swallowed and stared up at Luna's amused face. "To you!"

"Well, not right at this minute, but someday, yes." Luna beamed down  
at her newly restored boyfriend. "You fool."

Connor and Dawn stared at each other silently for a long moment and  
then Connor � with considerable caution � moved forwards and lightly  
touched her face. "There's no choice for me either, I just didn't  
want you to lose everyone you love."

Dawn stared, sighed and then tilted her cheek to press against his  
palm. "Connor, they'll get over it. They love me, who I'm boinking  
won't even be a consideration after a few apocalypses. When I  
promised you forever, I meant it, okay?"

A shuddering breath forced it's way out from between Connor's lips as  
he whispered, "You left me."

Dawn smiled tremulously at the look of vulnerability in his eyes and  
pressed harder against his hand. "Not forever. We just needed a  
couple of days to find some really *nasty* vengeance spells and then  
we would have come back. "I'll *always* come back."

Connor closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them to grin at  
his love. "I'm an idiot."

Dawn snorted most unromantically. "Yeah, this is news." She returned  
his grin and then turned her head quickly to sink her teeth into his  
hand. "Now, about the big stick you guys were threatening *us* with�"

Connor yanked his hand back with a shout of pain and stumbled back  
once more. "Honey, come on."

Dawn glowered and spat, "Don't you `honey' me, Connor Angel, you let  
me out of these chains right *now*, I'm gonna kick your ass all the  
way back across the OCEAN when I get my hands on you�"

**Author's Note:**

> This work belongs to MsGordo (https://archiveofourown.org/users/kipplemine/profile) and has been posted with her express permission in order to preserve it from Yahoo Groups. If I have missed any tags or warnings, please feel free to let me know.


End file.
